You Are an Administrator in a School System Charged with Designing

question 32

Essay

You are an administrator in a school system charged with designing a new high school curriculum. You are under pressure, for economic reasons, to include only "essential" subjects in the curriculum. You're aware that most of your colleagues believe that "essential" subjects are limited to math, science, reading, writing, and history-but not art. In light of this, you decide to write a letter, in the form of an essay to your colleagues, that defends the inclusion of art classes and art appreciation in the curriculum, because of the essential educational value of art. Your essay should include the views of Confucius, Schiller, Schopenhauer, and Nietzsche, although you are not limited to these points of view. If you've had a personal experience of the educational power of art, share that as well. Be specific about how educational values are linked to aesthetic values Also be specific about what "arts" and "art appreciation" you would include-formal art, and/or popular art?

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Definitions:

Cultural Artifacts

Objects, symbols, or practices that represent the shared knowledge, beliefs, and values of a culture.

Social Institutions

Established systems and structures within society that dictate certain patterns of behavior, such as family, education, government, or religion.

Stereotype

A widely held but fixed and oversimplified image or idea of a particular type of person or thing.

Prototype

Describes an early model or initial release of a product designed to test a concept or process, serving as a typical example of a category.